There’s something about millennials

It’s official: dating business eharmony’s in-depth analysis of the nation’s footloose and fancy-free shows that millennials are the generation most keen to date people deemed out of their league.

Forget old-timer Generation Xs with their judgy comments about friends “punching above their weight”, based on the simple premise of one sharing dinner and a movie with a far more physically blessed human than what they see in their own mirror.

Apparently, the newer version of “league” for those born between 1981 and 1996 is not all about looks. Millennials now rate potential dates on humour first, followed by physical attractiveness and then emotional intelligence.

The data from eharmony shows 75 per cent of single millennials think they’ve dated out of their league already – and 16 per cent want to keep it that way.

So, for those prepared to party their way through Christmas relationship warnings of crumbling self-esteem and fears about fabulous new partners running off with someone a little bit better, it’s time to soldier on.

Maybe the big man in red will deliver a few EI self-help and joke books under the tree, and who knows what you are capable of achieving under the mistletoe this festive season.

Council data out of focus

InSider has kept a watchful eye over Adelaide City Council this year, with regular readers of this column first to know about broken laptops in Town Hall, deflated Santas in Rundle Mall, fight club rules at staff parties and mobile phone bans in the council chamber.

But keeping tabs on councils isn’t easy, a fact the state government seems to be finding out via one of its many troubled projects to promote transparency in local government.

To take a step back: in 2019, the state’s Productivity Commission – whose greatest hits include backing the SA university merger without actually assessing it – told the Marshall government it should create a user-friendly website where residents can check how their council rates compare to other “similar” councils.

The Marshall government agreed to establish the website, naming it “Councils in Focus” and promising it would allow ratepayers “to see how their council performs in key areas, across time, and in comparison to other councils”.

All well and good.

But as an engaged reader recently pointed out to InSider, the data on this government-managed site hasn’t been updated for three years (see below).

The world ends at 2020 for the state government’s Councils in Focus website (screenshotted on Thursday).

Your average punter in the City of West Torrens looking for a better deal in Charles Sturt will just have to settle for information from 2019-20 (and of course nothing in the world has changed since then).

Quizzed on the issue, Local Government Minister Geoff Brock told us the Malinauskas government “is committed to updating the Councils in Focus website”.

“I am advised a delay in uploading data from 2020-21 was due to technical difficulties,” he said.

“However this data – as well as the latest data available from 2021-22 – is expected to be updated by the end of the year.” Council comparison data enthusiasts rejoice!

The world ends at 2020 for the state government’s Councils in Focus website.

Anyone who can’t wait till Christmas to unwrap their 2021-22 local government comparison data – and who can blame them? – can head to the Department of Infrastructure and Transport’s database reports page, where they’ll find a very non-user-friendly version of the data spread across 10 small print spreadsheets.

What a stocking stuffer.

An oot and a-boot roo, eh?

A keen Canuck Insider reader has reported that the province of Ontario pretty much stopped when reports that a kangaroo was loose in suburban Toronto.

The misplaced marsupial was on the hop over a recent long weekend, causing a media meltdown.

It was finally cornered by the local police who proceeded – as can be seen in the video below – to do everything wrong when wrestling a roo.

Naughty list

Now that the Rundle Mall inflatable Santas have stayed up, nSider couldn’t help but wonder if any parents endured kiddie meltdowns from children listed on the ‘Naughty’ ledger of this reclining elf?

All was answered by witnessing a young mother taking pics of her toddler ‘Bella’ telling her to smile because she was listed on the naughty list.

‘Tis the (cricket) season

Adelaide’s unofficial historian Keith Conlon posted on X that this week marks the 150th anniversary of the first cricket game on Adelaide Oval.

It is the 150th anniversary of the opening of Adelaide Oval with the first cricket game played there #OTD 13 Dec 1873 between the Colonials and the Britishers. The oval was ‘hard and bumpy’ and the wicket ‘treacherous’. 2000 sheep had mowed the grass.
On #KaurnaCountry. pic.twitter.com/dsCOUf2LiF

— Keith Conlon (@KeithConlon) December 13, 2023

And since he’s a really nice guy, he sent InSider a grab of the newspaper report on it from way back then (thanks to another favourite, Trove). Loving the fact that the early colonisers recognised “the healthful and manly character of the game, we congratulate the cricket-loving public, and especially the active players, upon the inauguration of a new era in the history of this pastime in the colony”.

The report did predict the role the oval would play in the history of the city, though.

“The Oval, we feel confident,will become in time an attractive resort for the public. It is within half a mile’s walk of the city, and is on the North Park Lands. It is substantially fenced and well planted with trees, which in a few years will beautify the grounds and give a grateful shade to spectators.”

And now for something completely different

Still on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, InSider found reports on Putin’s annual press conference where he takes questions from the public. The moderator let a few questions slip in, according to this post.

Putin is holding his annual televised Q&A today, and people have been invited to send questions via text, to be displayed on big screens behind him. Apparently, whoever is filtering them has let some uncomfortable ones slip through.

?Let’s see what questions the Russian… pic.twitter.com/DfDbSn62hm

— Mikhail Khodorkovsky (@khodorkovsky_en) December 14, 2023

InSider’s favourite is a question asking that if Crimea is actually part of Russia, why does the user’s phone switch on global roaming when they cross the bridge into the region.

Stuff you should know…

In the media it is always important to find a subject expert to comment on an issue. Do yourself a favour and click to read the comments.

Funniest thing today
byu/fredlecoy inaustralia

Insider is taking a break for the holidays but will be back with all the news you can use in 2024.